Tee Designs

Around the end of May 2020, while I was in the midst of designing icons, Almex came to me with their idea to create a series of collectible T-shirts. They wanted something fun with a vintage feel to help promote their products; something that would harken back to the early nineteen century with a bit of a cartoony pinup style.

By a bit of a strange coincidence, I was, at the time, helping another artist colour their graphic novel based on Buster Keaton, a historical figure of the same era. I love historic imagery so this was right my alley.

One of the things I like about being an illustrator is the whole exploration process: looking up reference—poring over clothing styles, typefaces, etc., whatever needed to fit the image best—and learning enough about what I’m about to draw (the equipment). Hopefully, I was able to make the things happening in my illustration be somewhat believable for the intended audience.

Below is some of the process I went through for a couple of the tees.

Some character iterations.

These were rejected but I had so much fun coming up with these that I wanted to share.

Working through colour options.

Some earlier rejected concepts based on their suggestion of super-heroine figure possibly stopping the rip in the belt.

During the reference collection stage, one of the artists I felt most inspired by was Duane Bryers. His poses and expressions were so comical and well-executed that I felt an instant connection.